This is my local go to hardware store. They have everything you need for most DIY projects - paint,…read moretools, lighting, gardening tools, fertilisers, weed killer and pesticides, and much much more. They also cut keys and sell Calor gas . I sometimes think this place is like a TARDIS, they stock so much in a small store.

Always got what you need and it's cheaper than anywhere else. Has anything I can think of even if…read morehe doesn't have it in stock the owner will get it in for the following day. The staff are very welcoming and give me advice step by step. Overall a great service!

Gregory Pank is a good old-fashioned hardware store located on Digbeth Highstreet. The shop seems…read moreto be a bit of a hidden gem. It shouldn't be: this place sells probably just about everything a budding DIYer or seasoned craftsperson could want. When you enter the shop your nostrils are filled with the scent of DIY history. Whether you're after glue, polyfiller, drill bits or string (all things I've been in for) you need only ask one of the very knowledgeable staff at the counter and they'll scurry off into the depths of the store to find it (or suggest numerous alternatives if they can't).

What a fab place - a cornucopia of ALL things hardware. Brushes, tools, metal buckets, tools etc…read more Also good for asking advice whilst purchasing. Just what you expect a hardware store to look like and be like. You must visit - great service, loads of stock and friendlier than B & Q etc.

I love this shop so much. It embodies everything that is wonderful about independent, old…read morefashioned stores. Before I bought my house I didn't really appreciate shops like this. Now I am a responsible grown up this is the kind of place I love visiting. Basically it does exactly what it says on the tin and stocks everything you would ever need for your house or DIY projects. The chap that runs the places is so helpful and can even give you advice for those tricky little jobs around the home. Currently, they also have a good stock of outdoor plants ready to go into pots or the garden. This is what I stopped and bought but I will be back anytime I need a DIY product for my house. Great price too.

We could all do with a shop like this in our street, and it needs to be open 24/7. It is simply…read morebrilliant. This is an emporium of delights, a real pleasure to visit. Many of us tend to visit B&Q (whatever that stands for) or Homebase for anything DIY but I urge you to drop by this store and compare not only prices but the service. I'll admit, I am useless when it comes to anything DIY and I am fed up with visiting the aforementioned chain stores because whenever I ask questions, the 12 year-old, happy to help staff member I'm met with has the same look as me, they're as clueless as I am. This is not what I need! I need someone who knows what I might be talking about and this is why I take full advantage of the word "useful" in Jeff's Useful Shop. There is nothing about hardware the staff in shop don't know about. It's well stocked, if your house needs it, it'll be in this shop.

Adams Ironmongers is one of those little shops that seems to have been there forever and has never…read morechanged because its never needed to - it even gets away with still having an 021 phone number displayed on its sign. It sits quietly on a corner next to Holland House Infant School, plying its trade. Adams is a bit like a Tardis - it's certainly painted the right colours - because when you go in what looks like a tiny shop you find it to be an emporium of pretty much anything you could need in the course of your DIYing - or even your ironmongery. Shelves and boxes filled with screws, bolts, nuts, washers, drill-bits, locks, latches, gaffer tape and most more (anytime the snow comes, they immediately start selling orange plastic sledges - I had one when I was little and it was great, especially when it snowed) are presided over by friendly and dilligent chaps who know what they're talking about even if you don't.

The man running this shop has the only available key to a gate that blocks access & egress to an…read moreadjacent school & nursery. It caters to children from birth upwards. To my knowledge he has no connection to it other than proximity. He appears to open & close the gate purely at his convenience, oblivious to the needs of parents there & the often very young children with them. I had my 2-year-old twins there for a playgroup which they very much enjoyed. I normally take them in a buggy but it had broken so I was driving. I'd gone to pick up a parcel on the way home when I realised I'd left my shirt & the parcel card in it at the Nursery. I drove back & retrieved them. When I turned around to drive out there was a locked gate blocking our exit. I was told that this man had the key so I asked him nicely to unlock it. He refused. When I pointed out that I had very young children in the car with me who had been away from home for over 2 hours he responded: "So go & look after them then!". Even the Nursery management were unable to talk sense into him. After half an hour, by which time my poor children were very fed up, hungry & in need of a changing, at his convenience he eventually decided to walk all the way out of his small shop & the 4 feet to the gate & let us out: us & many other irate parents with their children. He seemed to find it all very amusing. A man who appears to take pleasure in detaining & distressing small children & their carers is not someone that I would ever want to do business with.